


Little one

by Onetimerequester



Category: Kung Fu Panda - All Media Types
Genre: Amputee!Viper, Enjoy!, Gen, KFP: secrets of the furious five, Master Viper - Freeform, Mild Blood, Old Master Viper gets his hands smashed, Viper is awesome, Viper's story, mild violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-07
Updated: 2017-11-07
Packaged: 2019-01-30 16:49:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12657519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Onetimerequester/pseuds/Onetimerequester
Summary: Viper is born without arms.She grows up to the words No.No little one, it is too dangerous.No little one, it is not safe.No little one, you are not ready.(But this water lily will bloom.)





	Little one

Master Viper was a once strong and powerful general. His nails- refined to the sharpest of talons- his weapons. Like the serpent’s tooth they held his venom, dipped and distilled in them over his years of combat just as his ancestors before him. Precise darts and terrifying jabs downed his enemies in seconds, turning the mightiest horrors into quivering lumps. He can fell an army with a single stroke, just as the line of Dragon legends and ancestor Vipers of his clan once did, he keeps his village safe as such.

As he grows older and his hair grows white he turns to his wife, smiling at the bundle in her arms. They peer at their daughter; a little warrior to take on his mantle of Master Viper one day. Green eyes blink up at him blearily, she reaches for her father, childish grin on her face ‘dada!’. The world freezes in a heartbeat as he sees she cannot reach him. Her arms… He does not hear his wife's shocked gasp, he is already tumbling to the floor as his world shatters. Their (precious, _fragile_ ) little one is too young to understand: Without her hands she cannot hold the venom of her clan. She cannot protect the village... She cannot be her fathers successor.

His duty carries on.

...

As Viper grows up she learns things: While her father never forces her from him he does turn her away. She is his child, but she cannot be his legacy. She is his precious water lily, too large a ripple and she will drown. (He will not let that happen, no matter how many of his bones break with brittle age he will never stoop and let enemy waves take her from him). She grows up to the words No. 

No little one, it is too dangerous.

No little one, it is not safe.

No little one, you are not ready.

_She will never be ready._

-

“Can I help?”

“No little one.” He says, again and again, eyes tired and crinkled; smile faintly forced.

_Never._

-

She takes up the ribbons, first dancing with them looped around her legs and then later learning to weave them into her outfit, coiling them to be what the stumps cannot. She practises daily, always to see his smile. Even if only for a fraction of a second. Even if it cheers him only a hint each time. She will do it. It works in glimpses in the corner of her eye. She sees him smile, sees his eyes soften. She knows he cares and it spurs her forward.Years of glimpses build and she pushes herself, learns to get up when down, learns to use her ribbons to grasp things her feet cannot. She learns to always dance.

If she had been allowed outside she would have learnt she was the finest ribbon-dancer of the village. All she knows now is she is a girl dancing to make weary souls in aching bodies smile.

But she is still not his legacy. She knows the world is too dangerous, too unsafe, too _drowning_ for her.

-

The annual moon festival comes. Her father leaves. She watches the wonder from afar. To afraid without her arms to try. Her mother is beside her as they gaze upon the village glow. She is not part of it, too little significance, too little-

The screams rise over the fireworks and she stares horrified with her mother as her fathers hands are crushed. The challenger sneering down at the venom stained ground and the elderly mans crippled limbs. He laughs like her nightmares, but this is not her defenceless before him. This is her father. _No one_ hurts her father.

She is racing towards the throng before she even truly realises it, mother screaming for her and fathers horror ( _she will drown!_ ). Feet fleet as the wind and tails streaming behind her. She meets her fear head on. "What will you do little one?" The armoured creature smirks, "dance for me?". 

Fire in her veins and ice in her steps she smiles daintily back and replies: “If it’ll make you happy.” She learns. She is strong. With streams of ribbon at her call she surges forward- she dances. Weaving with her opponents shattering blows as her rhythm. But she is more than a ribbon dancer now.

Her whips are her venom, her bite in the lash, her hiss in the coils as they bind the man who dared harm her father, dared harm her village- _her_ clan. She _is_ a Viper.

He is down: trussed up and groaning as she stands triumphant. The light of the setting sun casting her in a glow and she feels for the first time ever so very alive. She turns to her father from atop her perch, ribbons swirling in the breeze as he comes forth cradling his arms to his chest, over his heart with pride. (She is a water lily but she has bloomed in the environment he was so sure would take her from him). 

-

She grins, revelling in her victory, as her eyes plea for one final accomplishment:

_Let me help._

He beams up at her in return.

‘Yes little one.’

_Yes my little Viper._

**Author's Note:**

> I had fun writing this one! Now remember amigos if you like one of my pieces feel free to review or request one below and I will see if it takes my fancy.


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